China possesses the largest broadband subscriber base in the world, with the majority of users accessing the Internet through mobile devices. Catering to this demand are China's three telcos: China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. Broadband makes up the majority of fixed Internet connections given dial-up comprises less than 2% of total fixed Internet connections.

Unlike the US market, where cable internet access plays a prominent role in developing the fixed broadband market, DSL was the initial driving force behind fixed broadband growth in China, followed later by EPON fibre and now GPON fibre.

Much of the initial growth in China's digital economy was underpinned by the online demand for information, media and commerce, giving rise to China's three domestic digital economy giants; Baidu (search), Alibaba (e-commerce) and Tencent (social media). Traditional media players largely struggled to keep pace with the migration of audiences to online media, while China's telcos missed the opportunity to develop into digital giants as they focus on deploying fixed and mobile broadband networks.

China's online audience is growing wealthier due to ongoing urbanisation. As a consequence China's online audience is increasingly willing to spend online, a trend encouraged by the government as it seeks to balance the economy away from an overreliance on building infrastructure and exporting goods towards domestic consumption.

Key developments:

The Majority of China's online audiences accesses the Internet via mobile.Broadband has become the key revenue generator for China's three telcos.Fibre has overtaken DSL to become the key fixed broadband technology platform.China's massive online population allows a number of social media platforms to flourish.